1. Technical Field
The presently disclosed embodiments are directed to generating physical three-dimensional (3D) color-accurate objects based on a 3D computer-based model using layers of media.
2. Brief Discussion of Related Art
Sheet-based three-dimensional (3D) printers use adhesive and layers of media such as paper or mylar to build physical objects from 3D computer-based models faster and at a lower cost than other conventional rapid prototyping machines (e.g. stereolithography, selective laser sintering, fused deposition modeling). In sheet-based 3D printers, media layers are adhered to preceding layers and trimmed correlating to cross-sections of a source computer-based model, building up the physical model as layers are added. Very complex objects can be built with these printers, but the objects are typically a single color (the color of the source media). A “topological map” appearance can be achieved by using a different color of media for each layer, however the colors are independent of the source computer-based model. Conventional sheet-based 3D printing systems do not utilize the color properties of the source computer-based models, and therefore, typically do not form color-accurate physical renderings of those models.